City skipper condemns actions of booing ‘fan’
EXETER City captain Jake Taylor has said there is no place for racism and discrimination inside St James Park after a spectator was ejected for booing when the players took a knee before the Harrogate Town game.
It was the first time this season that players took the knee pre-match before a match at St James Park to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
But a spectator in the IP Office Ltd Stand greeted the blowing of the referee’s whistle by booing the gesture. He was the only one and quickly drowned out by applause from the rest of the stand, and ten minutes into the game, was ejected by stewards.
Speaking after the game, skipper Taylor said there is no place for it at Exeter City and he hopes that he is banned and that fellow fans understand why the club is supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
He said: “It has been well documented over the last few weeks about the situation. There is no place for it at Exeter City so I’m glad he got dealt with and hopefully gets banned and has to deal with the consequences as it shouldn’t be happening in this day and age.
“We are a respectable club and I hope our fans would back the message that us players and staff back too. It is really disappointing and not an Exeter City thing to do.
“Both teams spoke about it before the game and we are fully onboard with it. Hopefully when it happens in the future (taking a knee) it gets a better reaction than it did this evening.” Manager Matt Taylor added: “If there is booing then I hope the club deals with it. We had the incident last week and I am disappointed with that. We were requested to do it and we obliged with it.
“We can’t affect if someone booed. I am sure the club will deal with it in the right way. We have to find out what was meant by the comment or why it was made and this evening why did they boo. As much as it’s disappointing to hear we have to understand why. They are against obviously against what it stands for so we have to educate each other a bit better.” A spokesman for Exeter City Football Club said: “We would like to thank the vast majority of supporters who supported our players when they took the knee as part of tonight’s EFL wide campaign.
“Unfortunately one supporter was ejected from the stadium and the club will take the appropriate action.”
It is the second such incident to have taken place at St James Park in the three games since fans returned, after an allegation of racist abuse by a spectator towards a Northampton Town player in last Tuesday’s defeat was made.
The club - and the police - have launched a full investigation to find out who the culprit is and have appealed for witnesses, with the incident happening at the end of the game and the person responsible sat in the Stagecoach Adam Stansfield Stand.